Are you like me? Do you have projects sitting around that you’ve been meaning to get to but just haven’t found the time?
Like the tapes of interviews I did with my parents over a year ago and haven’t transcribed? Or the pictures and items I collected for that mini-book on our vacation to Memphis, Oxford and Clarksdale more than two years ago?
I’m a Procrastinator, with a capital P. I have no trouble wading right in on projects for my clients, but I still haven’t managed to find the same motivation with my own family research projects. In a way, that’s good for my business. I suspect that many of my clients are Procrastinators, too. That’s why they hired me. Preserving their family history is important to them and they realize it will never get done if they wait to do it themselves.
While procrastination is generally seen as more of a nuisance, with family history it can be a fatal flaw. Most of us have experienced the erosion of our family legacies when a vital family member dies, taking their wisdom and stories with them before they can be saved.
We would all be better off to follow the advice of Larry the cable guy and just Git-R-Done.
That’s exactly what Peter, a near-octogenarian, is doing with his regular postings of bits of his history on YouTube. And Jennifer Koretsky offers tips on how to combat your procrastinistic urges.
Larry Lehmer is a personal biographer who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or e-mail him.
Flickr photo courtesy of m0squito.
Comments